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Monthly Archives: July 2017

Where there is good there is also evil. To the Autobots that evil comes in the form of the Decepticons.

5: Devastator/ Menasor/ Bruticus (G1): One of the things that I really loved about watching through the first two series of G1 Transformers was seeing the formations of the combiners since they all looked awesome and before I watched this I was a huge Power Rangers fan, so it was basically seeing evil versions of the Megazords. The first combiner that we see in the series is Devastator, and he gets the upper hand for the Decepticons, but we then see them start to be defeated by the Autobot more and more frequently. However, Devastator is also good as separate vehicles since that they are based off construction vehicles so they have been useful in building structures for the Decepticons. Menasor on the other hand was designed on more of a different matter and that being to match the Autobots on the ground since that the main design motif for the Decepticons was more militarized, these seemed to be more blended in for disguise, but when they were put into battle with the Autobots they had the upper hand, until the Autobots created their counterpart and they could beat Menasor. But the most intriguing of the combiners is Bruticus for the fact the robots created for him were built from Starscream after he was kicked out of the Decepticons and was going to use them to show Megatron how resourceful he is. But the interesting thing about this was that Megatron praised Starscream for what he had done, and then he wiped the memory of the Cons used for Bruticus and used it for himself.

4: Steeljaw (Robots in Disguise): For a series that I have just gotten into I found that Steeljaw is a rather interesting Decepticon. In the show, Steeljaw is shown as a Con that only wants one thing in life and that is being ruling over a planet full of Decepticons and he would do anything and use anyone to get what he wants. In the first series of the show, he starts getting his army ready, which is made up of the typical villain of the week and uses their abilities and sometimes sacrificing them to get captured to get the job done. I think another reason why I like this character is also because of his voice actor, that being Troy Baker, who makes this role his own and gives a menacing and devious character.

3: Starscream (Various): What can I say about Starscream that people already haven’t said before. He has delusions of grandeur wanting to become the leader of the Decepticons and become respected. But on the other hand, he is also a bit of a coward. He has also had a lot of good moments to throughout the various series and incarnations of the show with some of the best coming from G1 and Cybertron. One of my favorite moments from G1 was during the Transformers Movie when Starscream decides to take advantage of an injured Megatron by casting him and some of the other Decepticons out of Astrotrain since that Astrotrain was being weighed down. With this Starscream then became the leader of the Decepticons for a hot minute before he got killed by Galvatron. Another of my favorite moments is during Cybertron when Starscream uses the Earth Cyber Key and makes himself to be a rather strong opponent to the Autobots.

2: Megatron (Various): Megatron has been the leader for the Decepticons for a long time and he has had a lot of cool transformations from a gun, to a tank, to something that resembles the Batmobile. He is a no nonsense leader and can be rather ruthless at times, but he does see the good in the ideas, sometimes, that his team has. The one that I mentioned already was seeing the brilliant idea that Starscream had when he built his own combiner and then wiping the memory of said combiner to forget that he was created by Starscream. He also has had a lot of rather good and smart ideas compared to what the Autobots have done since that during the first few episodes of G1 when they attacked places to go and gather Energon to get on their way back home to Cybertron, they use green energy sources to generate Energon and that they were successful in getting Energon out of it. But with the good there are also a lot of problems that Megatron has and he does seem that he can be rather self-destructive, blaming his team for the failures that have happened over the many years and battles with the Autobots.

1: Soundwave (G1/Prime/Robots in Disguise): I love Soundwave for so many different reasons. The first is that his transformation is useful for a lot of the plots, since that in G1 the transform modes could change their size, and a lot of the times it featured Soundwave being the size of an 80’s radio being picked up by a dumb human. The second thing that I like about him is that he has Cassette-Bots that have proved to be rather useful for the Decepticons with Laserbeak being used for surveillance and Prowl used to hunt down any humans that can get away from them. Another reason why I like Soundwave is that in later incarnations he is a powerful fighter and is also cunning. During an episode of Robots in Disguise he was able to manipulate the ground-bridge in the Autobot base to escape a pocket dimension that he was in and managed to get Bumblebee into it. He also managed to beat Strongarm and Grimlock and he was also nearly able to set his plan in motion to signal other Decepticons back to Earth but he was stopped by Bumblebee who used his own tricks against him to put him back in the pocket dimension.

Back in 2012 I started reading Amazing Spider-Man properly read since I went to a college that was near a couple of comic book stores and one of the first stories I enjoyed reading was ends of the Earth since that it looked interesting for the cover. Spidey being bound with Doc Ock’s robotic tentacles and being held across the Earth and when I read the beginning page, I was interested even more for the fact that, Doctor Octopus was dying and that this was going to be his possible magnum opus.

The story begins with Spidey narrating about how it can be difficult to tell the difference between who are the good guy and the bad guy, in which we see Equinox a villain who has the powers of both Human Torch and Iceman all-in-one attacking firefighters and setting a building on fire. Spidey sees what is happening and he intervenes by hurling ‘Spider-Grenades’ whilst flying on a ‘Spider-Glider’. It turns out that the grenades are filled with a retardant gel that manages to encase him in a cocoon of some description. But during the firefighters trying to rescue one of their own, his foot snaps off, but the paramedics manage to arrive and preserve the foot in a box and Spidey helps the paramedics get to the hospital faster. At the hospital, the doctor tells Spidey that they will be able to reattach the foot thanks to the person who created the Cryo-Cubes since that they have been a help storing limbs and organs and he is taken back by this since that it was Peter he who had created the tech and then we see a few panels of the other tech that he has created over the past few issues. But he then brings up some other tech that he has his hands on, that being something to take down the Sinister Six.

In Horizon Labs, it turns out that Mayor Jameson wants to shut down the building with Jonah calling Max Modell a menace saying that he is also keeping tech could control and contain Spider-Man and that he wouldn’t turn it over. However, Hector Baez, who is their legal counsel says that they had destroyed the jammers so that they wouldn’t fall into the wrong hands. Jonah then brings up that the jammers also created a 50ft Spider Creature in Manhattan during the events of Spider-Island, also them creating a time machine that created an alternate future that destroyed New York and that they have a monster working for them, that being Morbius the Living Vampire. Jonah then leaves and Max tells them that the can all go back to work.

At a hidden location underwater, Doc Ock announces to the Sinister Six, this incarnation made up of himself, Sandman, Chameleon, Mysterio, Electro and Rhino, that he is going to start his plan since that it is revealed that the X-Men, Defenders and Fantastic Four are either off world or in a different dimension. Chameleon asks him what about the Avengers and he says that he has studied them and has come up with countermeasures that he plans to use on them. He activates is ‘Octahedral’ and activates his plan, a network of satellites that have created a field around the Earth causing the Sun’s rays to be intensified across North and South America. Doc Ock spouts his reasoning for what he is doing, but MJ and Peter also notice this and Peter seems rather annoyed that even with the tech that he has created that it seems that Ock is a few steps ahead. He tells the world what he is doing, that being using his Octavian Lens can counteract the effects of global warming and thus help preserve the planet. He then says that he is sensing copies of his equations to people around the globe and he only wants to be able to be remembered for one thing, being able to save the Earth.

Back in New York, Peter motions to MJ that he is going off to deal with Ock and she tells him not to screw it up. He heads back to Horizon Labs and takes out of storage the parts he was working on to take down the Sinister Six but he gets interrupted by Max Modell. He asks what he is doing with the equipment and he says that he is running some tests with it, but Max has an inkling that the tech is for Spidey to deal with the problem that is occurring. Peter tells him that it is and Max wishes him luck with helping Spidey. We then cut over to Peter putting on a new costume but just small panels showing what it looks like. Over at the Avengers Mansion, the Avengers talk over the Ock’s plan with Iron Man saying that the math is right, but there seems to be a rather mix with the rest of the Avengers. But Spider-Man walks in saying that it’s time for them to act and says Avenger’s Assemble, revealing the new costume which seems to resemble armour and it looks amazing, ending part one.

Part two begins as a flashback two weeks prior to the Doc Ock’s plan where he sent out Chameleon, Sandman, Rhino and Electro out to recover countermeasures for the Avengers from different parts of the world. Chameleon gets an old set of Iron Man’s armour, Sandman and Rhino retrieves a prototype device that the Leader had created to use against a Hulk and Electro gets the Fang of Jormungandr to use on Thor. Back in the present, an emergency G8 summit is on with world leaders and some of the worlds smartest people to go over the science behind Doc Ock’s latest invention with even Professor Stephen Hawking saying that the science is sound and if they help him launch more of his satellites it could end the threat of global warming. Former Vice President Gore takes the floor to talk but he is then interrupted by Spider-Man along with Captain America and Thor where he says what they are doing is completely insane since that they forget that Doc Ock is a psychopath that uses giant octopi. Gore asks why they are there and Thor says that he is here representing Asgard in these matters and that Spider-Man is in his council. Spidey continues saying that Ock is a mad scientist and that they are just helping him build his weapon that could be a doomsday device. Gore responds saying that he sees that this is a way to end global warming and sees that there are no other worries that counteract this decision and then Spidey punches him in the face, shocking a few world leaders in the process.

Spidey then reveals that Gore was in fact the Chameleon in disguise and Cap asks how he knew that it was Chameleon and he replies that it was an idea that he borrowed from Daredevil and set up an audio system keyed to recognise his specific heartbeat. Ock then chimes in from his Octahedral where he apologies for his deception, and says that due to Spider-Man’s interference he plans on taking drastic measures, this being using his satellites to teach them all a final lesson. Spidey contacts Iron Man saying that Ock had taken the bait and Iron Man says that he can try and backtrack the signal but the satellites start to change frequency’s and he says that it could be very bad. Horizon Labs starts a teleconference with the summit and they say that they may have some information regarding the energy signature off tech that they had developed for their old Space Station. However, it isn’t known if they had got the rest of the information as all their power goes out with Max thinking that Doc Ock may have set off an EMP and tells them all to go outside. But it turns out that it wasn’t the evil Doc Ock that did this but the evil Mayor Jameson who had cut off all the power to Horizon Labs because he wants to protect New York from scientists, even though New York had been attacked a few hundred times by different villains (plus that time when Jameson got turned into a Spider), and he says that he only care about making New York safe and the rest of the world can fend for itself.

Back at the summit, Iron Man informs Spidey that he has good and bad news, the stealth technology that he is using is revolutionary, but he can’t track where his base is at. To top off on the bad news even more is that the new shield that is in place in the upper atmosphere is having a different effect and he says that it could change everything. The leaders are getting news in about all the new information and it doesn’t look good for Spidey, the Ock chimes in saying that he could have turned up the heat again but this time he decided to give them the carrot instead since that he still wants to have some good come with his name and gives them a 24-hour ultimatum or it’s the stick again and he also asks for the release of the Chameleon. The summit releases Chameleon and Spidey is annoyed at this but this seems that it could also be part of a back-up plan.

An hour later the Sinister Six meet up along the Mediterranean Coast with most of the team in a one of Ock’s robots and Chameleon questions why they are meeting here and Sandman says that they would like to keep their secret base a secret and Mysterio says that he has a kick me sign on his back, and Chameleon realises he has a tracer on his back and the Avengers followed him to the rendezvous. Inside the Quinjet, Widow tells them that they have been spotted and Spidey tells them that the plan is to overwhelm them since that they have the numbers advantage and Red Hulk likes this plan. Sandman tells them that he sees seven of them and but Otto reassures them that they can’t lose since that this is their day, the day the Sinister Six reign supreme and we get an awesome two-page spread of the Avengers descending on the Sinister Six.

Red Hulk goes after the robot whilst the rest go after the remaining members. Hawkeye shoots a net arrow at Mysterio but it looks like, to him, that it didn’t work as it dissolves into what looks like candy. Hawkeye seems shocked at this but Spidey reassures him that it worked since that his helmet can filter out Mysterio’s tricks. Electro manages to take out the Quinjet possibly even taking out Widow. He manages to knock down Hawkeye and Spider-Woman, but when he tries to mow through Spidey, it fails and Electro goes out of his electric form and reminds Electro that he has brought a God with him and Thor manages to absorb him into his hammer and casts him out somewhere. Thor says that Electro will no longer bother Midgard but Rhino comes up behind him and stabs him with the tooth from the Midgard Serpent. Iron Man says that he’ll help Thor after he has dealt with Ock, however Ock has his own tricks by being able to shut down his suit with the help of future Starktech. Cap and Sandman fight it out with Cap trying to convince him on returning to the Avengers, but he isn’t paying attention to his request and takes him out with sand. He then throws a cryo-cube at Cap freezing him in ice. Red Hulk then gets taken out with a blast from an Alpha/Gamma Disruptor which can shut down the brain activity of Gamma-irradiated creatures. Spidey is the last Avenger standing, but not for long as he tries to use Ock’s tech against him but Ock has upgraded himself shocking Spidey into defeat and the Sinister Six standing triumphant ending part two.

I have really liked this story and I will be back at a later date to continue the story.

As a child growing up I loved watching Transformers Armada and its sequel shows, then I got into watching G1 Transformers and enjoyed that even more so I decided to make a top five lists of my favourite robots starting from the side of the Autobots first.

5: Rodimus Prime (G1): During the events of the Transformers movie, Optimus dies and the Matrix of Leadership then gets handed over to a few other Autobots, but at the end of the film then Hot Rod heeds the call of the Matrix and manages to defeat Unicron taking on the new mantle of Rodimus Prime. One of my favourite things that I like about this is that we get a new leader for the Autobots who doesn’t have that much knowledge on leadership, which does seem rather off putting but he was rather likable as a character.

4: Arielbots (G1): During the events throughout G1, the Autobots needed a way to defeat Menasor who had just been created by the Decepticons to up their forces and they were overpowering them. So, it was their decision to build their own combiner, this in the design of five Arielbots that were based on Cybertronian planes. Combining they form Superion and they manage to defeat the Decepticons Menasor. But there is something that I like rather more about them than the other combiners that are in the show, that I remember and that was that they ended up having some character development. In one or two episodes after they are built they are in a story where a few of them think that the Decepticons are alright and they accidentally get transported back through time where they end up meeting Megatron and Orion Pax. The Arielbots then discover how bad that the Decepticons were and they help Orion Pax beat Megatron and his Decepticons and they show their loyalty more when they realise that Orion is now Optimus Prime which is when they get back to the present, Optimus then realises them creating a possible change in the timeline or that the Arielbots were meant to go through time.

3: Optimus Prime (All): Optimus Prime, the leader of the Autobots and the usual main character in many of the Transformers media series and is the staple of the Transformers universe. The reason being, he is a great leader and a powerful fighter. Originally starting life as Orion Pax on Cybertron he adored Megatron but when he realised how evil he was he decided that he would stop Megatron as all cost. Another thing that I really like about Optimus through the Unicron Trilogy where we got to see him combine with characters like Jetfire, Omega Supreme and Leobreaker as usual finishing moves.

2: Grimlock (G1 & Robots in Disguise): The Dinobots are one of my favourite things about the Transformers series and I like them both in G1 and in Robots in Disguise. I like Grimlock in G1 since that he was pretty much a powerhouse and has a lot of good and funny lines through the series, but one of my favourite moments is in series 3. This is when Grimlock becomes super smart when helping the Autobots deal with anti-electrons and with this he then can create a new group of Transformers called the Technobots. For the Robots of Disguise series, I did start of being rather curious on why Grimlock was a Decepticon where they explain it rather well. But then he was then given the change of signa to the Autobots as Bumblebee entrusted him that much and since then he has been a good powerhouse for the Autobots but there is one episode that I have seen that does make him stand out. In the episode Deep Trouble, Grimlock gets hurt during a training exercise but he just passes it off as nothing to the team, but as the episode progresses it starts to hurt him more and more. He confesses it to the Bumblebee and apologises to him for hiding the injury since that it could have cost them the mission.

1: Bumblebee (Robots in Disguise): I am rather surprised that I didn’t put Optimus as the first on the list and there is a reason why, Bumblebee has more depth of a character for this than what Optimus has had in the past few series. Set after the events of Transformers Prime, Bumblebee is sent on a secret mission to Earth sent by Optimus Prime in a weird vision with him saying that a something bad is going to happen there. From there Bee is then joined by Strongarm and Sideswipe who accidently join him on Earth since that Strongarm is a cadet under Bee’s supervision and Sideswipe was under arrest at the time. Since then Bee’s team has grown a bit bigger when he enlisted the help of Grimlock, who was a prisoner on a transport ship and he then proved his worth to have Bee make him a Autobot. But something that did make him a good leader was in an episode where the team had to deal with prisoners that resemble skunks, and they could also spray to blind them. Near the end of the episode Bee concentrated hard on what he needed to do and in a bit of a Sherlockian way as well focusing on what he was going to do and It was successful managing to save his team, a city from being flooded and was able to capture the Decepticons.

When I started reading comic books, it could have been either Amazing or Superior Spider-Man, where I was introduced to Kingpin’s fortress the Shadowland and there was something that I always wanted to know. Where did this building come from? From what I knew going into this was that this was set after the events of Siege and that HAMMER and the Dark Avengers were being replaced back with SHIELD and the Avengers reforming.

We begin the story in Japan where members of The Hand, a mystical ninja thieving assassins group that has had run ins previously with the Avengers and the X-Men. But here they are talking about Matt Murdock and how their plans are coming into motion. We also get a bit of backstory as well for new readers and the reason why Daredevil is leading them, with the Hand coming to him to lead them and he decides to try and use them for good. But that then changed when his old rival, Bullseye, destroyed a city block killing over 100 people and since then Daredevil and the Hand have started to push the limits to keep the peace.

We then cut over to a prisoner transport where Bullseye is being transported to the Raft and Bullseye starts planning his escape. He manages to distract the guards with telling a tale about The Sentry but then he starts foaming at the mouth and the guards try to save him but this appears to be a ploy and he manages to grab the defibrillator off one of the guards and zaps them in the face. He lands the transport on top of a building and we see Shadowland with Moon Knight, Spider-Man, Punisher and Kingpin looking out at the building from different parts of New York and Kingpin remarks: I think we’re ready to begin.

In Avengers Tower, Thor starts talking about Shadowland and says that no good will come of this. Luke Cage and Danny Rand start talking about Daredevil, commenting on how he seems to become judge, jury and possibly even executioner. Iron Man and Captain America join the conversation with Cap saying that with the changes that have been happening that it is creating a power vacuum and Iron Man saying that even though Shadowland looks ominous that Hell’s Kitchen does have somebody looking after them. Luke then says that this seems to be rather crazy that he has a crazy ninja death cult also watching them and Danny remind them that this isn’t the old Matt anymore and he brings up something rather nervous about what he has heard at the soup kitchens. Apparently, people in Hell’s Kitchen have been disappearing so Iron Man and Cap give them the go ahead to talk to Matt to get some sense into him. Luke asks them if he says no and Cap replies saying that it would be unwise.

Bullseye manages to get his costume on and starts killing the Hand outside of Shadowland and he calls out Daredevil for a fight and we see Daredevil’s new costume, an all-black version of his old costume with possibly a newly designed DD on his chest. Bullseye calls him out on putting Shadowland here saying that he is over-compensating. But Daredevil calls it a monument for all that he had failed to save, but Bullseye just simply ignores that and the two, with Daredevil backed by the Hand, start fighting, with Bullseye running off. Luke and Danny notice what is happening and go to give Daredevil a hand, but he stops them and asks them if they will swear allegiance to the Hand where they reply no and he tells them to stay out of his way. Bullseye manages to hold off the Hand rather well but he starts to get his arse kicked once Daredevil shows up and he manages to dislocate one of Bullseye’s arms. Daredevil also notes that Bullseye is deadly with bit hams so he then dislocated his other arm, but things seem to be looking even more grim as Daredevil picks up one of Bullseye’s scythes. Luke and Danny see where this is going and they try to intervein, but it was too late. Daredevil stabs Bullseye, killing him ending the first issue.

Issue two begins with Moon Knight narrating about Shadowland and what Daredevil has done since he set up his new residence. He also talks about how criminals have moved out and headed to other places, but the ones that the hand had took, nobody knows what has happened to them, so he swallows a balloon and smashes the cab that he drives to alert the Hand who take him to their jail. Meanwhile with Luke and Danny they are openly talking about Daredevil and what they should be doing about him since that he did kill Bullseye, with Danny saying that it could be taken as self-defence but Luke says that it is murder plain and simple. They keep talking about what they should do and a fight breaks out and one of them tries to stab Luke but the knife just snaps and Kingpin walks in and the room clears out. They ask him why he is there and Kingpin replies that he wants to take down Daredevil.

Inside Shadowland, Tarantula is talking with Daredevil and he asks Tarantula what he wants. He replies saying that wallowing in guilt isn’t necessary but Daredevil responds saying that he doesn’t feel anything. Tarantula asks him if he needs anything and he replies that he needs reinforcements since that the Hand are pretty much just cannon fodder. Tarantula questions this decision since that with HAMMER out of the picture there shouldn’t be that much of a need, but Daredevil plans on expanding the area of control. He tells him to put a call out to all costumed heroes that they are invited to join the Hand saying that if they are not with us that they are against them.

In Midtown, Lady Bullseye gives Kingpin an ancient scroll that lets him summon the Zugaikotsu warrior to be under his command who is apparently the most ancient enemy of the Hand and is also to be feared. Kingpin recites the text from the scroll and Lady Bullseye says that nothing happened but he tells her to listen to what is approaching them and the window that they are standing inform of shatters. The Zugaikotsu asks why he has been summoned where Kingpin tries to get a masterpiece speech out, but he cuts him off and he says that he wants vengeance.

Back at the Shadowland White Tiger is waiting warning that this place is a no-go for civilians, however it is revealed that Luke, Danny, Shang Chi, Missy Knight and Colleen Wing are wanting an audience with Daredevil. Daredevil thinks that they have reconsidered but Danny reveals that it was a ruse just to try and talk some sense into him. But he isn’t having any of it, but Missy pretty much goes off on him, Colleen tries to calm the situation down. Daredevil also brings up that his ninjas are under a no kill order where Missy brings up that he had killed Bullseye where he responds that he is a mad dog that needed to be put down. Colleen then says that he has forgotten all about the justice that he had when he was a lawyer but he retorts back saying that justice is what they make it. Daredevil starts getting sick of their lectures and brings up all the negative things that have happened in the past few months/ years with Green Goblin being put in head of National Security and making Bullseye as an Avenger. But then Spider-Man appears out of a window in Shadowland where he tells him that a black costume always ends rather badly.

In a different part of Shadowland, Moon Knight finds himself imprisoned where he finds some NYPD Swat members. He regurgitates the balloon that he swallowed in issue one and it turns out that he smuggled in a lock pick and he manages to get out of his cell to gather intel. But this gets cut rather short when he starts to hear something coming underground. One of the prisoners says that it sounds like a dinosaur but Moon Knight says that it is something that is much more worse, and we see that the Zugaikotsu is in fact the Ghost Rider, who starts wreaking havoc. Back up top one of the Hand tells Daredevil that they have been breached and Daredevil thinks that this is a plot that was set out by Luke and co, but Danny tries to put some sense through him, but he isn’t having it and he has the Hand attacking them and to take them dead or alive, ending the second issue.

Issue three opens, with Moon Knight and Ghost Rider fighting off the prison of the Shadowland and Knight asks Rider what he is doing here since that his plan had now went out of the window. Rider says that he is being played by somebody and he is going to find out who is behind it. Rider drives off and the prisoners are set free, but Moon Knight stays there and decides to suit up. Back up top, Daredevil lifts his no kill ban and we see the Hand battling the heroes. Danny and Shang Chi keep trying to talk sense into Daredevil and Danny tries to punch Daredevil but he manages jumped up high and tries to smack them down but they manage to get out of the way. They continue sparing and Daredevil manages to take down Shang with a cross armbar. He then goes to try and take down Danny but Spider-Man manages to knock him back into his throne and tries to web him but he manages to get out of the way where Daredevil introduces a new member to his roster, Typhoid Mary who uses her abilities to burn Spider-Man. With the team at their lowest point and Daredevil giving the order to take their heads, The Punisher appears and manages to give the heroes a chance to escape.

During the escape, the heroes find that the streets are now full of people out on the streets looting and fighting leading Danny to believe that the dark powers that are in the Shadowland are corrupting the surrounding area. Back with Kingpin, Lady Bullseye brings up more about the scroll as well as the fact that the Ghost Rider doesn’t like to be used by people and he will be heading for him. But that is all a part of Kingpin’s plan since that even if the Rider comes after him he is protected because of the scroll and he plans to get the Hand’s magic off the Rider.

Inside Shadowland, Daredevil finds out that Ghost Rider was in their prisons where they find out that all the prisoners had escaped and Daredevil believes that it was all a ruse to free the prisoners. Mary then brings up that they ran away from the fight but he then brings up that they will regroup and come after him. Tarantula brings up the negatives that bring up since that they were here to protect the people of Hell’s Kitchen and they seem to be going up against the Avengers. Daredevil then says that they need more fighters and Daredevil tells Mary to bring a shovel with them as they plan of finding a new champion, meanwhile Moon Knight watches them from the rafters. In a graveyard somewhere, the Hand dig up Bullseye’s corpse and they plan on using it for something, but that’s not all that happens. Elektra is back and she is now aligned herself with Daredevil.

In Harlem, the heroes regroup and they are talking about how this new Daredevil is a lot different to the old one that they knew. Spidey asks if that this could be an imposter, I think that this could also have to do with Secret Invasion where the Skrull Invasion took over the world posing as heroes and villains. Punisher then brings up the negativity that ben coming off and Colleen saying that it has gotten worse. But Punisher then brings up something more worrying for the team and that is that he plans on killing Daredevil. Master Izo then appears through a window, saying that it may be too late and that it is his fault on what happened since that he was the one that sent Daredevil to the Hand. He then informs them about what the Hands plan is for Daredevil and that is they were going to use him as a vessel for the Beast of the Hand. The page ends with Daredevil, Typhoid Mary and Electra carrying the corpse of Bullseye with the interpretation of the Beast of the Hand.

Issue four opens with the Hand and Electra are in an access tunnel and Electra kills the Hand members there, leading to reveal that she was placed as a mole and brings in the heroes who are now joined by Wolverine, but Missy and Colleen have left. Electra questions why he is here and he replies that he has had his own run in with the Hand and they start planning on what to do. Back with Kingpin he is overseeing the destruction that is happening around Hell’s Kitchen and he says that this is a transition period between the old and the new. Lady Bullseye is getting impatient about not getting to kill anyone but Kingpin tells her to wait.

Inside Shadowland, the heroes are devising a plan to get to Daredevil and Wolverine asks if there is anyone that they should be worried about and Elektra beings up that they have Bullseye. Luke asks if he is still alive since that he and Danny saw Daredevil stab him. But Elektra says that they have different plans for him and that they were going to use him as the vessel for the Beast of the Hand. Spidey’s spider-sense goes off and Izo says that it is the will of the Beast. Elektra then explains more about the Beast and it influence saying that it is one the one that is creating the negativity around Hell’s Kitchen and Izo says that the evil will soon envelop the world. Punisher asks why they just don’t shoot him and Elektra says that if it was that simple she would have already killed him. Danny asks if Matt is still in there and Izo says that he could be still in their but the influence of the Beast has him trapped in a living nightmare.

The Hand starts the ritual to resurrect Bullseye, but as it starts the caster gets killed with a scythe, thrown by Elektra. Daredevil calls her a traitor and has the Hand attack them, but this is also a diversion as Punisher throws a stun grenade to have Wolverine get up close and stabs Daredevil through the chest with his claws. But Daredevil with his superhuman strength manages to pull out Wolverine’s claws and then throws him into a column. Punisher starts shooting at Daredevil but he manages to dodge the bullets. Typhoid Mary uses her abilities to destroy the gun, but Spider-Man manages to stop her from using her powers when he webs up her head and ties her to the rafters. Daredevil manages to grab Spidey with his billy club and the two of them get into a fist fight and Spidey manages to get the upper hand and gives the heroes a chance to free Daredevil from the influence of the Beast. Elektra tries to get through to him by reminding him that they were taught by Stick to resist the Beast but he forgot to. Daredevil then says that there is no Murdock and he manages to throw them all off and says that there is only the Beast, ending issue four.

Issue five opens with the NYPD trying to protect themselves from the rioters from Hell’s Kitchen. But we then cut over to the mayor of New York, J Jonah Jameson, where he is being informed about what is happening in Hell’s Kitchen and that it is spreading through Manhattan and he asks where the Avengers are during these events. Outside Shadowland Foggy Nelson is trying to climb up the fortress but falls off but is saved by the Ghost Rider.

Daredevil stands triumphant over the heroes and he plans on killing them, but he is interrupted by the arrival of the Ghost Rider and the two of them get into a fight, where Daredevil manages to get the upper hand. The Rider tries use one of his abilities but it appears to be ineffective and Daredevil manages to drain the hell-fire from Ghost Rider. White Tiger drags in Foggy and she wants to kill him in front of Daredevil. Daredevil tells her to hold off and that he wants to kill Foggy himself. Foggy tries to get through to Matt which appears to be working and Elektra tells Danny to charge up his chi to deliver an attack. White Tiger tries to warn Daredevil what is happening but Izo manages to knock her out and says that after this is done, he has questions on what happened to Black Tarantula, since that he hasn’t been seen since Daredevil came up with digging up Bullseyes corpse.

With his guard down Danny manages to punch Daredevil, but Daredevil says that a chi punch wouldn’t be enough to stop him. But Danny brings up this point and that the chi wasn’t meant to kill or damage him, but it was meant to heal him and Daredevil starts convulsing from the healing attack and he asks Elektra to kill him.

We then get something rather cool and that we get to see inside of Matt’s mind to when he was a kid and he is scared, but a voice says to him, ‘Don’t come crying to me’ and it is revealed to be his mother, who turns out to be a nun. But when he calls her mom, she doesn’t want to be called that since that she never wanted him and left him and his father, who was an alcoholic as his penance. He then sees a vision of his father who is pretty much a dick towards him. But just as he seems to be going further down into misery a vision of Elektra appears and tells him that this is the beasts doing and that he can free himself, but he is scared. She tells him to be a man and hands him a sword and Daredevil stabs himself through the chest, killing himself and the beast in the process.

Foggy asks Matt to hold on and Danny says that he can still feel a glimmer of life in him but Elektra tells them to let him go. We then see that the evil energy that was emanating from the Shadowland has now stopped. Spidey frees Wolverine from the debris and Danny tells them that the riots have stopped but tells them that the fires are still burning and that they need to go out and help them. But Foggy then notices something missing and that is that Matt’s body is missing, but we then see Elektra with Daredevils mask.

Later that night, Kingpin’s helicopter lands in the Shadowland where Mary asks why he is here and he brings up that he was once asked to lead the Hand and he has decided to take up the offer but Mary says that she is leading them but he just laughs it off saying that she has always been working for Kingpin and he says three words, which turns out to be a trigger phase that unlocks her secret fourth personality. We then see more members of the Hand are swarming the fortress, now dressed in black and Kingpin basks in his victory.

The final two pages are good as we see Matt Murdock entering a church where a Priest is shocked about him being there as he is about to close for the night and he asks him to hear his sins. The Priest tells him that he will since that he doesn’t think that he will be around tomorrow and he asks him when his last confession was and Matt tells him that it has been too long, ending the series.

So, this was one of the first of a few graphic novels that I picked up when I started reading comics and I think that this is a rather intriguing story. But when I got into finding about more of the story there were more issues that went with the story, that weren’t apart of the graphic novel since that they were apart of other ongoing series. I do wish that they were apart since that it does feel like that there are gaps since the last that we see of Moon Knight in this is him watching over Daredevil and co discussing on increasing their number, then Black Tarantula disappearing plus the Avengers only in the book for two or three pages. It did feel that this was an incomplete story, but it still was interesting.